Glen Farley has covered the Patriots for The Enterprise since the Raymond Berry regime.

Conference calls with Patriots coach, coordinators

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By Glen Farley

Glen Farley has covered sports for The Enterprise since 1978. His time on the Patriots beat dates back to the final year of the Raymond Berry regime, 1989. You could say his roots lie in Foxboro. He once won an award for a piece he wrote on the sod
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Glen Farley has covered sports for The Enterprise since 1978. His time on the Patriots beat dates back to the final year of the Raymond Berry regime, 1989. You could say his roots lie in Foxboro. He once won an award for a piece he wrote on the sod at Gillette Stadium.

BB: We’re trying to get back on a normal week now with Tuesday being the normal, traditional Tuesday and then Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, finishing up our preparations for Buffalo. As I said the other day, part of this week is just getting into a routine, getting into our regular season meeting, practice, preparation schedules – coaches and players – as well as preparing, doing all the things we need to do to get ready for Buffalo which is considerable as well. Fortunately we’ve had a couple extra days on that and that’s been helpful. That’s where we’re at for now.

Q: Traditionally when you face a Mike Pettine defense, how much does that mean, ‘Be ready for the blitz’ this week?

BB: Quite a bit, percentage-wise. There are some tendencies that are stronger than others, but yes, blitz pickup will be definitely something that we need to work on this week, no question about it.

Q: From what you’ve seen of their defense, obviously there is going to be a change. How would you describe the change from what they were doing last year to this year?

BB: This looks a lot like the Jets defense, just different. Different players and schematically it’s similar to what we’ve seen from the Jets. This year, Buffalo looks like the Jets, schematically.

Q: Does quite a bit of the preparation focus on studying Jets film from last year or is it a focus on the Bills from the preseason?

BB: Yeah, sure. I would imagine that whatever the Jets did, Buffalo is certainly capable of doing from a scheme standpoint, whether they’ve shown it or not. We have to be aware of some of those things. Again, I think that’s part of the whole unknown of opening day. We go back and find a million things to work on, just like I’m sure Buffalo could too if they go back however far back they want to go on the Patriots stuff. I’m sure that there’s plenty of stuff in there somewhere; it’s just a question of what you think you need to stop and how much time you want to put into the different aspects of the game plan. And then at some point, I’m sure that every team on opening day in the NFL is going to have to make some kind of adjustment to something new that they haven’t seen or that’s a wrinkle that the opponents have held back for opening day. That’s just opening day. I don’t see it any different than that. I think probably all teams are looking at pretty much the same scenario there.

Q: What do you see from Matthew Mulligan?

BB: He’s an experienced tight end that we’ve played against before. We’ll put him in there in that group and see how it all comes together. He’s had a lot of success blocking and he’s a tough, physical player. But we’ll see how it goes.

Q: Offensively for the Bills, how much are you seeing option or Pistol based concepts?

BB: Yeah, they do some. Again, this is another thing where we know things that they’ve done in the past. Whether that’s part of this offense or they’ll do them against us or not, that’s part of the unknown. We’re ready for a variety of things. They’ve shown a number of things offensively, a number of different schemes, obviously a lot of no-huddle. It’s really all no-huddle but with different personnel groups, different formations, different combinations, things like that. We’ll have to prepare for all of that. But the quarterback as being part of the offense, either keeping the ball or running play-action, bootlegs off it, or things like that, pitching the ball, I think those are all elements that we’ll have to work on, sure.

Q: Based on what you’ve been able to see, what are the differences from a skill set standpoint between E.J. Manuel and Jeff Tuel?

BB: When both of them have had a chance to play, they’ve both been productive. To be honest with you, there isn’t a ton of Buffalo film on either one of them. We saw them play in college and scouted them both coming out there, but that doesn’t really mean as much as what they do in this offense and how they do it. There’s not a whole lot of film on either guy. We’ll just have to go on what we’ve got and again, be ready once we really see, which is true of a lot of rookie players. Even though you watch them on film, once you actually see them in person and get on the field with them, sometimes they look a little different than what they look like on film. There’s always that whole element of it. I think in this case, we’ll go on what we have but that’s not a whole lot.

Q: It looks like they’re starting a rookie middle linebacker in Kiko Alonso. What did you see from him leading into the draft and what stands out to you from what you’ve seen in the preseason?

BB: Good size, athletic guy, runs well, can cover a lot of ground, sideline to sideline. Physical player, they blitz him, he comes hard as a blitzer. He’s got good range, good tackler. It looks like he’s been a good addition to their defense, gives them some speed, gives them speed and athleticism and some power as well. It looks like he has a good combination of skills.

Q: With so many new players on your roster, is there a little more unknown for you this year than previous years?

BB: I don’t know. It’s always there. We’ll see how it goes.

Q: On Mario Williams, it looked like he was mostly on the defensive left side last year. With the new scheme are you noticing a little more liberal usage of where they’re lining him up or anything different they’re doing with him?

BB: We have to be ready for all of it. They’ve already shown some different looks where they have guys moving around and defensive tackles playing linebacker and stuff like that. But yeah, we’ve seen him plenty on our left. But as you said, he played on the right so I’m sure he can play – it looks like he’d be comfortable playing on either side, whether they move him, try to match him up, same thing with [Leodis] McKelvin. He’s played on our right; he’s played on our left. I’m sure if they wanted to match him up like they did in New York, when they would match corners against certain receivers – so yeah, something we’ll have to be ready for but I don’t think there’s been enough of a pattern set in preseason to say with 100 percent certainty what it is going to be or what it isn’t going to be in lot of those types of situations.

Q: What have you seen from Shane Vereen this summer?

BB: Shane has had a good spring and a good camp. He’s been relatively healthy, he’s gotten a lot of snaps out there on all three downs, all four downs really – the kicking game and third down and first and second down offensively as well. I think he’s continued to grow and develop as a player, both in an understanding and working on it his run reads, his route running technique, blitz pickup, various things in the kicking game. He’s continued to improve and I think he’s had a good camp here, good preseason. I think he’s ready to go in the season. [We’ll] see how it all turns out, but I think his preparation has been good.

Q: When a player like him lines up in-line or closer to the line of scrimmage, almost like an H-back, versus in the backfield, what are the challenges for him?

BB: It would depend on what you’re asking him to do.

Q: Presumably he’s trying to get open.

BB: Are you talking about detaching him out of the backfield or at tight end?

Q: For lack of a better term, if you were to use him at tight end, what would be the challenges for him there?

BB: One challenge would be size. He’s a good athlete, he’s quick, he’s fast but I don’t really see him as a tight end. I don’t know, I think he’s really a running back for us.

Q: You mentioned the no-huddle with the Bills offense. It seems like that ties into their desire to play with a fast pace. Can you draw any parallels to other teams that you’ve faced that have played at a similar pace? Any past experience you can draw on heading into this game or your own team in practice?

BB: That’s a good question. I think we’ve certainly seen a lot of up-tempo, no-huddle, fast pace offensive, whatever you want to call it, including our own in practice. Exactly how this goes, I don’t know if we know exactly until we actually get on the field with them and see it in person. I would say, just generally speaking probably some similarities to Philadelphia and what we practiced against down there. I don’t know, it might be a little faster than that, I’m not sure. I don’t think Philadelphia necessarily is always trying to go as fast against us at that point as maybe it will happen later in games or maybe it will during the season, I’m not sure. I’m sure they have the ability to go faster than they did in the game against us. Again, I’m not sure if Buffalo is at that – again, I think most teams that go no-huddle have the ability to pick up the pace or slow down the pace, depending on what they’re trying to do. We’ll probably get a mixture anyway.

PATRIOTS OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR/QUARTERBACKS JOSH MCDANIELS

CONFERENCE CALL

September 3, 2013

Q: What do you expect from a Mike Pettine coached defense?

JM: First of all, he is a great coach, great coordinator, and it is always a great challenge when you get an opportunity to prepare and compete against one of his defenses. They are well coached. They’re not going to give you a lot of easy yards. They have the ability to be very multiple when he wants them to be and change up their looks, their packages, their pressures and those kinds of things. I know a lot of times that got discussed when we used to talk about the Jets when Mike was there, but I also think that they are a very sound defense. They do a lot of things well and they force you to do a real good job of driving the football, staying on the field for eight, ten plays in a row in order to get points. They always make it hard on you on third down and in the red zone to stay on the field and finish drives. So, playing them in Buffalo on opening day will certainly make the challenge greater, and we’re excited to get this week going and get the season started.

Q: What have your impressions been of the Buffalo secondary?

JM: I think it’s an impressive group. They’ve got good speed and they’re definitely a group that is going to stand in and challenge you. They play a lot on the line of scrimmage on the outside with their corners. We’ve played against and competed against [Leodis] McKelvin and [Justin] Rogers before and they do a good job of trying to disrupt timing at the line of scrimmage. They have good ball skills, and unfortunately we’ve seen that before too. [Ron] Brooks is a young guy in his second year that is a really physical player for a small guy, but he certainly plays much bigger than that. He can run well on the perimeter also and plays very aggressively in a physical style when he goes inside in the nickel packages that we’ve seen him in too. The safeties – [Jairus] Byrd is a great player and [we] certainly have to be prepared for him to play. He’s made a lot of impact plays over the years, and is a very instinctive player who has great ball skills and awareness of what is going on in the secondary. And [Aaron] Williams is a young player that has moved position a time or two and now I think is really settling in on the back end as one of their safeties that is going to be out there starting and playing a lot of football for them. He has made some impact plays in the preseason as a downhill type of safety that really hits you. And again, like I said, I think this a really talented group with great ball skills that’s not afraid to stand in there and make it hard for you. So, we are anticipating a great challenge. We know we’re going to have to play very well to move the ball in the air, and again, it will be a good challenge for us to start the season this way.

Q: How familiar are you with Matthew Mulligan?

JM: Well I’ll certainly be more familiar with him as we go. This is certainly not an unfamiliar situation for us, or any staff, to be in where the roster has a little bit of flexibility and turnover here at this time of the year. Last year I think Michael Hooman [Hoomanawanui] came onto our roster around this time and played right away. I spent some time and I got to meet Matthew yesterday. He is going to be plugging away learning our stuff, and it’s exciting to have any player who comes onto our team that we add. We are going to embrace [him] and look forward to working with [him] and I look forward to figuring out how he can help us win from one week to the next. I’m seeing some tape from his days in Green Bay and St. Louis and talking to some people that he played for, and I’m excited to work with him.

Q: What are you looking for from the rookie players on offense?

JM: Every team deals with changes from one season to the next, and we’re no different. This won’t be our first time going out there with a young player, or more than one young player that will play for us. I think it is our job to put them in positions that give them an opportunity to be successful, and that applies to everybody on our offense. I think as long as we can do that, each guy that has earned the opportunity to play on Sunday will go out there and give his best effort to do the things that we have already seen him do to contribute. It’s going to be a great challenge, like we said, for our offense, and it’s going to be a team situation in terms of how we play the game, how we call it on offense and what we try to do with each one of our players and certainly try to make the best decisions we can to allow them to make an impact.

Q: What do the three rookie wide receivers bring to the team?

JM: Youth. They’re all anxious to get started. They’ve got an enthusiasm about them. They’re all three capable of playing in our offense. We’ve already moved them and played multiple roles, multiple positions with them, which in our system is a really big plus for us to have some flexibility with those guys. They’ve shown that they will study and work at the mental side of the game to be able to be flexible and play at multiple spots that we need them to. They are all competitive and they’ve all been productive in different roles throughout the course of the spring and the preseason. And at the same time, we understand that this will be their first opportunity to play in a regular season game, and we’re going to try like I said to put them in the best positions to be successful at what they’re doing. So, it’s exciting to have them get started, but they’ve got a lot of veteran, experienced players around them. Certainly we are not going to throw them out there and not have a good idea of what exactly we are going to do with them.

Q: What is the benefit of bringing back eight full-time starters on the offensive side of the ball?

JM: I think experience in this league is valuable, and I think that it helps certainly in different stages of the year, the first game, the opening game of the year, being one of them. You’d like to say it would certainly give us some calm going into a situation like that. The line has done a nice job. It’s a pretty tight-knit group and they do a good job of communicating and working together. Certainly Tom [Brady] has had a good spring, a good training camp, and is looking forward to getting the season started. It’s great to have leadership from both those areas of our football team: the quarterback and the offensive line. I think a lot of the backs. I mean, this isn’t their first game and they understand what they are getting into. We’ve got some players on the perimeter that have played large roles in the NFL before in Danny [Amedola] and Julian [Edelman] too. So, like I said, it’s a good blend, a good mix of veteran leadership with a lot of experience and some younger players that we’re hoping can come in here and contribute to our offense.

Q: It is unusual for a player like Shane Vereen to have the ability to make catches in all quadrants of the field?

JM: Yeah, I think certainly when you have a back that has opportunities to makes plays down the field and he shows that he can do that, that doesn’t happen often. It doesn’t happen often with Shane, or it hasn’t happened often with Shane either, but he’s made some really nice plays in the past with the opportunities that we’ve had to do that. Any back that gives you an opportunity to move him out of the backfield and still have some contribution from him is a plus in the passing game. I think Shane has done everything we have asked him to do in any role, whether that be blitz pickup, running the ball, catching it out of the backfield or being split outside and doing things out there too. We don’t just do that with Shane. There have been other backs in our past that have made some plays out there, but all of them end up playing out there at one time or another and doing some different things. It’s just a matter of how much the ball actually gets pushed out there. Hopefully if that comes up, any of them will be able to take advantage of the opportunity, and that would include Shane.

PATRIOTS DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR MATT PATRICIA

CONFERENCE CALL

September 3, 2013

Q: What do you see from E.J. Manuel and Jeff Tuel in terms of what challenges they bring offensively?

MP: I certainly think that Buffalo’s offense in general has a tremendous scheme and philosophy that they are trying to implement. The quarterback position, as you can see throughout the preseason, has just an integral part of that, being able to plug in and still be successful in that system. I think the system they have is run really well. I think the quarterbacks obviously are doing a good job in the system and offer a lot of challenges for us this weekend. Guys that they try to fit into what they do offensively have done a good job of really doing that. I think every week you try to prepare your best to try to handle all the different scenarios that could come up.

Q: How much of a connection do you see with the Syracuse offense you saw back in 2001 with the offense that Doug Marrone brought with him to the Bills?

MP: Obviously, Syracuse is home for me, so it’s always good to see Syracuse. Really, what we’re focused on is Buffalo and what they’re doing currently. You’re trying to get a grasp of the offense that they’re running which is a system that they’ve had in place, obviously previously with Doug and Coach [Nathaniel] Hackett. You try to go through all those different avenues and see what they’re doing and try to explore and make sure you’re prepared. But obviously, the Buffalo system and the players that they have is really what we’re concentrating and focusing on right now.

Q: Did facing Tim Tebow in training camp help prepare you for mobile quarterbacks such as Geno Smith and E.J. Manuel and situations they might present?

MP: I think in training camp you’re trying to go through and improve every day as a defense and trying to improve on a variety of different things that you might see throughout the season and might have to address at some point during the season, whether it’s Week 1 or all the way at the end of the season. Obviously, we try to get multiple looks at different offenses and different things that might come up throughout the season. Certainly, the better look we can get in practice will help in certain situations that will hopefully help us down the road. Training camp is a good opportunity to just try to improve the individual fundamentals and skills. It was that way in training camp and we’ll continue to do that.

Q: Do you still have to pay attention to Fred Jackson despite all the hype that C.J. Spiller has received this offseason?

MP: I think from a personnel standpoint with Buffalo, I think they have tremendous players. Spiller is extremely difficult player to play against. He has a great combination of quickness and speed and vision and the ability to play out in space or run the ball. Certainly, Fred Jackson is someone that we have familiarity with as far as his explosive play ability and his ability to change a game. Obviously those are two great players that we have to do a phenomenal job against in this game to try to stop, along with the skill players outside – the receiver positions, Stevie Johnson, [Robert] Wood, [T.J.] Graham. All those guys just do a great job at their positions getting open and can be explosive players in their offense. Those are certainly guys that we have to do a great job of stopping.

Q: Has having a lot of familiar faces back from last season helped the defense and the process going forward this year?

MP: I certainly think it’s good when you have some carryover year to year. I think every year is different and that’s how we approach it but certainly guys that have familiarity with the program and what you’re trying to do, hopefully they have an advantage coming into the next year to start at a higher [level] and to improve from there. We’re certainly excited about the season getting underway and certainly excited about going through training camp and improving and trying to get better as a defensive unit. That’s really what we’re trying to do every day, is take a look at the different things that we’re doing and seeing if they’ve gotten better from a fundamental standpoint through to a scheme standpoint. It’s good to have guys that are back year after year – obviously Vince Wilfork, Jerod Mayo and Devin McCourty, just the leadership that we have with those guys but really everybody. Everybody that steps out onto the field is going to set an example for the rest of the defense and hopefully the team to follow. We’re excited to get going.

Q: Does Aqib Talib seem more comfortable in the defense after an entire offseason with the team?

MP: Very, very happy with his work and his ethic that he comes in as far as this guy studies film, he really practices hard, he competes every day. He’s a good example on the field for those guys who are coming into the program to get in behind him and follow along. It’s been good to have him through training camp, like everybody that we have. Obviously, the more you’re here, the more we can get down and improve upon. It certainly is beneficial to have everybody as long as we can from the spring all the way through.

Q: What does a healthy Chandler Jones mean to the defense?

MP: I think just in general, we’re trying to go out there and work as a unit. We’re just trying to work hard to get better, as is everybody on the defense. [Our expectations] for him, as they are for all of us and that’s to grow and compete at an extremely high level and do the best we can to stop the Bills. That’s what we’re looking forward to.

Q: What are the things that make Chandler Jones unique?

MP: Again, I think with Chandler, he’s gone a good job coming out and trying to improve his overall playing style and just all aspects of the game, as far as the run game, the pass game and trying to be a better football player every year and that’s really what we’re looking for. I think we’re just looking for him to improve on the things that he does and hopefully do them a little bit better.

Q: Would you agree that Chandler Jones has very unusual length?

MP: I don’t think you can argue Chandler is a long guy – he has long arms, long legs. Hopefully, that’s something he can use to his advantage like guys that have played before that are long like him. There’s different leverage that comes with that length than maybe a guy with different size numbers. Certainly playing with that length the right way can help him.

Q: What type of stress does Scott Chandler put on the defense?

MP: He’s obviously a real good player and a key for them in the past and obviously in the future as far as a guy who can get open in the pass game. He does a good job, has a good feel for the pass game, whether it’s zone or man, working away from leverage or finding an open spot in the zone, along with obviously just being a big guy in the run game that can get out there and get in a good blocking position and really whether they’re trying to get the edge or run the ball inside, he does a real effective job there out on the edge. Definitely a challenge for us to do a good job against him and try to get him in both facets of the game.